Their first game was on August 1st 1966 where they played against and lost to the Philadelphia Eagles. Their first win came after nine losses that season when they defeated the New York Giants. The 1960’s were not very successful years for the Falcons.

They reached their first playoffs in 1978 where they lost to the Dallas Cowboys. In 1980, they lost to the Cowboys again in the Divisional playoffs. After their 1981 season, the Falcons had to wait ten years till they played in the playoffs again. This was in 1991 where they lost to the Washington Redskins.

The Falcons had their best season in 1998 led by quarterback Chris Chandler and running back Jamal Anderson. That year they made a record of 14-2. They went on to win the NFC West Championship when they defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30-27 in overtime. They went on to the Super Bowl where they lost to the Denver Broncos 34-19.

In 2002 they reached the divisional playoffs once again to lose to the Philadelphia Eagles under new quarterback Michael Vick. He broke his leg and had to miss most of the games in the 2003 season. He was back for the full 2004 season where the Falcons reached the Conference Championship but were defeated by the Eagles yet again. They won the NFC South divisional title that year.

The Falcons played all their home games at the Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium from 1966 to 1991. It was also known as the Atlanta Stadium between 1966 and 1976. Their current home field is the Georgia Dome since 1992. The cheerleaders of the team are known as the Falcons Cheerleaders.

Retired Numbers

The Falcons retired six jersey numbers. These are:

Tommy Nobis #60, Jeff Van Note #57, Steve Bartkowski #10, Mike Kenn #78, William Andrews #31 and Jessie Tuggle #58.

There are a few inductees in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame. These include Tommy Nobis, Claude Humphrey, Alfred Jenkins, William Andrews and Dan Reeves their head coach from 1997 to 2003.

The Current Staff

The Falcons are owned by Arthur Blank who has been there from the beginning and the General Manager is Rich McKay. Bobby Petrino joined as head coach in 2007.